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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24314065">a cool smile is your main weapon</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rukebox/pseuds/rukebox'>rukebox</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fashion &amp; Models, Choi Soobin Is Bad At Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Mentioned Choi Beomgyu, Mentioned Huening Kai, Not Beta Read, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Soft Choi Yeonjun, Whipped Choi Soobin, beomgyu is soobins manager, designer!choi soobin, hueningkai is soobins friend and model, model!choi yeonjun, soobin is smitten, taehyun doesnt appear in this one sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:01:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24314065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rukebox/pseuds/rukebox</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Yes. It’s happening. You’re the designer, I’m not.”</p><p> </p><p>Soobin huffs, crossing his arms over his chest as he sulks into the chair he’s sitting. Fabrics and needles discarded over his work station. </p><p>He’s pointedly not looking at Yeonjun, instead focusing his eyes on a piece of pink fabric, because he knows once he looks at the elder he won’t be able to say no.</p><p>(or, Soobin is dragged to a fancy party and he falls even harder for his model)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Soobin &amp; Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>201</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a cool smile is your main weapon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i had this one in my drafts for some months now. i dont remember much of the context for it besides the base of the au so i edited a lot of it. idk if ill ever write the start of this au but this is definitely somewhere in the middle! maybe one day ill write the rest</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Soobin was never a party person, be it fancy or just for fun. There was always too many people, too noisy. Expectations to be met that he knew he didn’t meet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not like he was invited to a lot of parties to begin with. He was never that popular in school, blending in the crowd of bored teens who just wanted to get out of there once the clock hit four pm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he started working as Wild Rabbit, well, things </span>
  <em>
    <span>changed</span>
  </em>
  <span> significantly. Calls, mails and texts were coming in with no stopping, always a new event, always a new party or fundraiser. People trying to get his presence wherever they could. But time is money. And time wasted on cocktails and caviar is time he could be spending creating new pieces and new collections. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes he just straight up rejected the invitations as kindly as he could, other times he would send someone in his place, like Beomgyu or Hueningkai, mostly because he trusted them the most to not spew his actual identity to the first person that asked them about it when they were tipsy, and because he liked to be the one to plan their outfits, always a nice distraction to the small silver of guilt he felt for not going there himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But that was before he left the old company. Now, in his new and self owned business, he knows he’s gonna have to start going himself, can’t hide behind his models and managers anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>People have yet to reach other directly to him or Beomgyu, but they do reach out to Yeonjun a lot. His name and face more famous than his or Beomgyu’s, even than Hueningkai. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So of course, if someone is gonna get invited to a gala to promote new and aspiring brands, it's gonna be Yeonjun, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>face</span>
  </em>
  <span> of Soobin’s brand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What he didn’t expect though, was Yeonjun asking him —forcing him— to be his plus one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Soobin—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope. Not happening.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeonjun rolled his eyes, clearly already done with the conversation. Hands on his hips as he narrowed his eyes at Soobin, a frustrated frown on his face</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. It’s happening. You’re the designer, I’m not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin huffs, crossing his arms over his chest as he sulks into the chair he’s sitting. Fabrics and needles discarded over his work station. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s pointedly not looking at Yeonjun, instead focusing his eyes on a piece of pink fabric, because he knows once he looks at the elder he won’t be able to say no.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know I don’t like that kind of stuff…” he feels like a child, using the </span>
  <em>
    <span>i-don’t-like-it </span>
  </em>
  <span>excuse feels too much like seventeen year old Soobin telling Beomgyu he’s too tired to go out, or that there’s too many people maybe next time</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeonjun is quiet for a moment before he hums, putting a hand on Soobin’s shoulder gently and squeezing softly for a moment</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I know you don’t. But you have to get over it one day, this kind of stuff is important to the company, it gets our name out there, I can't always be the one to go, I know you're used to working anonymously and all but you gotta make some sacrifices and this is one of them,” Yeonjun pauses, before he continues softer than before “Hey, look at me,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin feels the tip of his ears turn red as he looks up through his bangs, Yeonjun’s soft but determined eyes looking into his, one of those smiles that make Soobin melt forming on his lips</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d be right there with you. And when you want to leave just tell and we’ll leave. But please, come with me, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And of course Soobin couldn’t say no anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, hyung”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So now here he is, trying not to stain his shirt with his nervous sweating, and balancing a glass of expensive looking champagne that doesn’t even taste good in his hand, occasionally taking a sip of it for appearances sake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighs for what feels like the tenth time, bored out of his mind. No one has come to talk to him in almost an hour, which he’s glad about, but not even Yeonjun has talked to him, too busy with the seemingly never ending sea of magazine writers and photographers that want a minute to speak to him about whatever it is they want Yeonjun to say, do or agree to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He scans the room with his eyes, looking around at all the people talking and drinking, smiling politely at the ones that pass in front of him and wave, even if they don’t know who he is they probably saw him come in with Yeonjun. He’s glad there aren’t any paparazzi loitering around, he doesn’t know what he’d do if they start rumours about him and his model just because they came together to the event. He knows it’s inevitable that people talk, someone is gonna mention him, someone’s gonna ask and everyone will start whispering about them- about </span>
  <em>
    <span>him.</span>
  </em>
  <span> But at least it won’t be until later when reporters and magazines start to try and pry into what happened tonight. So he has time to prepare for assumptions and rumours that Beomgyu will probably have to deny for the next month until the media finds something new to gossip about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin is in the midst of wondering if using his phone right now would be considered rude, when he feels a hand closing around his elbow. He looks next to him, only to find Yeonjun there, beaming at him, his eyes shining in the artificial lights of the salon. His hair is parted to the side, light curls, barely noticeable forming almost at the tips of his hair. He opted for light makeup too, just a soft eyeshadow that makes his blue contacts pop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time Soobin saw him, fifteen minutes before they had to leave, he felt like the air had been punched out of him, Yeonjun’s eyes impossibly soft as he asked how he looked. Soobin could barely manage a </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice </span>
  </em>
  <span>before he had to get out of the room and get his thoughts in order.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now though, he can’t get out, can’t stop paying attention to Yeonjun. Yeonjun that’s looking at him and asking him if he’s doing okay, which Soobin takes some seconds to register the question because he was busy admiring the way Yeonjun’s lip gloss made his lips look like they’d taste of cherry and stardust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh— Sorry, what?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked if you are okay,” Yeonjun repeats, still smiling at him, and Soobin has to clear his throat before answering</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, yeah, I’m o—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t get to finish as someone comes over to them, half shouting Yeonjun’s name, who flinches and closes his eyes for a second before turning around, plastering one of those smiles he only gives the paparazzi and interviewers, the one that screams </span>
  <em>
    <span>Can you please leave</span>
  </em>
  <span> but still remains charming and confident. Soobin wonders how he does it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guy that called Yeonjun’s name walks closer to where they are and stands in front of them, he’s not as tall as Soobin or Yeonjun but he has a strong aura, one that makes Soobin try and blend in with the wall even more when the guy looks him up and down and then grins, it doesn't help that his golden animal-print suit jacket seems to glisten and blind under the lights of the salon, making Soobin suppress a grimace too, because that's one ugly jacker, but then the guy is turning his gaze to Yeonjun and promptly completely ignoring Soobin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jun, it’s so nice to see you,” the guy says, and Yeonjun’s hand tightens around Soobin’s elbow, where he hasn’t let go ever since he came up to stand next to Soobin “You look, wow-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeonjun doesn’t let the guy finish his sentence. and Soobin is kinda glad. He doesn’t think he can take someone flirting with Yeonjun when he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>right there</span>
  </em>
  <span>, when he’s the one that Yeonjun </span>
  <em>
    <span>clearly</span>
  </em>
  <span> invited as his plus one, even if deep down he knows it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want, Kihyun.” Yeonjun asks, finally dropping his smile, and the hand he has around Soobin’s elbow also falls, making him instantly miss the warmth of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guy—Kihyun, who Soobin now recognizes as another model that has worked with his old company before—doesn’t falter, but Soobin sees the way he holds his glass tighter, grin turning into a tight smile</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just wanted to say hi to a dear friend, can’t I?” Kihyun huffs out a laugh, albeit a little forced. And Soobin understands why the guy has never been cast in a drama. He’s a shit actor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bullshit,” Yeonjun scoffs, and Soobin flinches, raising his eyebrows. He has never heard Yeonjun swear— or well, not like that at least, like he’s actually mad, eyes hard and cold as he looks at Kihyun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, c’mon, Jun” Kihyun chuckles, waving his hand dismissively. That makes Yeonjun frown, and cross his arms. “I just wanna talk a little. I missed you”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His tone turns breathless in a way Soobin thinks is supposed seductive, but it just sounds like the guy smokes fifty cigarettes every day. He suppresses the urge to roll his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop calling me that. And I don’t wanna talk,” Yeonjun says, looking to the side before looking at Kihyun again, a sadder, more subdued look in his eyes “And you clearly don’t miss me by what I’ve seen online” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin is </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> jealous, there’s no reason for him to be, him and Yeonjun aren’t anything at all. Just co-workers, maybe friends if he wants to get a little optimistic. But that’s all they are and </span>
  <em>
    <span>all they’ll ever be</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so there’s no reason (or right) for him to feel like he’s being punched in the chest with a sledgehammer, repeatedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even as Yeonjun acts like he doesn't care for the guy, more mad at him than anything, the fact that he'd probably been checking up on his sns makes a sick feeling take root behind Soobin's rib cage, both from the fact that this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeonjun's ex</span>
  </em>
  <span> and because Yeonjun sounds hurt, or insecure, and Soobin had never thought he'd see the day where the model is </span>
  <em>
    <span>insecure</span>
  </em>
  <span>, much less in the romance spectrum of things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knows Yeonjun has dated before, that’s not easy to miss when it’s always all over the internet and magazines when it happens. And Yeonjun had complained about it, about how dating in the industry is the </span>
  <em>
    <span>worst</span>
  </em>
  <span> because most of the time people just use as a PR stunt, and Soobin had agreed, had said that it’s better not to mix personal feelings with work. Soobin realises, a month later, that he’s a fucking idiot and a hypocrite, and he has probably doomed himself to a life of loneliness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, that…” Kihyun chuckles, </span>
  <em>
    <span>again</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and Soobin is so close to throwing his glass of champagne at his head “Y’know how the media is, always taking things out of proportion. It was never like that with Kim, you know that—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I really don’t know and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t want to.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Soobin has never seen Yeonjun truly mad, maybe annoyed and exhausted, but never mad. Always keeping his composure even in the worst moments, and Soobin admires him for it, he’s always working hard, harder than everyone else. Even as he praises Soobin for his own relatively calm and composed personality, Yeonjun has been dealing with public appearances and meddling people for longer than he has. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeonjun has always been better at dealing with confrontations and arguments, he knows how to stand up for himself and others, sometimes it seems like he knows exactly what to say. But right now, right now Yeonjun looks like he’s close to ripping the guy’s head off, and if looks could kill Kihyun would’ve been six feet deep into the ground minutes ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a moment of silence where Kihyun looks at Yeonjun before sliding his gaze over to Soobin, looking at him up and down like he did the first time, except this time he doesn’t grin, just raises an eyebrow and judges Soobin for a few more seconds before directing his eyes at Yeonjun again</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, if you ever want to work again with an actual company, you can hit me up. I can arrange something for you to meet with the main designer, Hye Jin, she’ll be more than glad to work with you,” Kihyun says, with an air of superiority that would make even Hueningkai want to punch him in the nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin feels his blood boil at the way the he implied Yeonjun wasn’t already working with a company- a good, functioning and very real company, and even though it's relatively new and there's still some stuff in the way of them rising to success like he previously did as Wild Rabbit, Soobin has faith in his work and in his models, in </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeonjun</span>
  </em>
  <span>. They are a damn good team and that's one of the things that Soobin is proudest of. He can't stand the thought of someone thinking otherwise, specially someone who clearly does not care for his model, or even knows anything about their work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feels even angrier when he hears the name of the designer. He knows her, he never personally met her, by the time Soobin was making his own collections without someone guiding his every step, Hye Jin was already a renowned and nationwide known designer, but two years ago she had visited the company Soobin used to work for, she had come in and sweet-talked some of the interns, charmed her way to get information about the collection Soobin had been working on for the past six months,  and proceeded to completely rip it off, shamelessly claiming it as a four am revelation she had during one of her sleepless nights where she spent more time "brainstorming" than resting. Yeah, right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin had cried the week of her launch, it was one of the first times he had truly done so since college, sobbed into his pillow until his head hurt, had buried himself under his blankets and turned off his phone the moment he had seen the pictures, shock turning into anger and then </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he had been naive and stupid to trust his company, he knows that now, but back then he didn't and he had thought that Hye Jin was the only one at fault there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin had cried until he fell asleep and woke up the next evening to Beomgyu cooking lunch for him and Hueningkai laying next to him in bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t realise he’s shaking until Yeonjun speaks again, voice controlled and calm in that way that makes Soobin get shivers up his spine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for the offer,” He says in a way that indicates he’s clearly not thankful for it and would never actually consider thinking about it for more than two seconds “But I’m perfectly fine where I am, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>where I am. And I’m there because it’s what I want”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s like someone lit a fire inside Soobin’s chest. He feels the warmth spread to the tip of his fingers when Yeonjun looks at him with a genuine smile for a split second before he looks at Kihyun again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feels like his heart is going to burst, he’s always known Yeonjun was there because he wanted to, because he choose to support Soobin and his dream, no one forced him to, Yeonjun understands first hand how it feels to have your company let you down, to have people use you for their own gain without thinking about you first, that's why they work so well, that's why Yeonjun is there, </span>
  <em>
    <span>with him</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But listening to him say it outloud, say it to someone else, it feels like someone's squeezing Soobin’s heart with the intention of making it burst. He tries not to smile, not to beam at Yeonjun when the model’s ex is right in front of him looking like he wants to punch Soobin into oblivion, but he can’t help it, so he looks down, hoping his hair covers the blush spreading on his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Besides, I don’t work with designers that have to steal someone else’s work to succeed.” at that Yeonjun grabs Soobin’s wrist and starts walking away, towards the door that leads them to the back garden of the salon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soobin blinks, mind still reeling from...all that, and trying to catch up with Yeonjun's words. He stops walking suddenly, stopping the model too, when his brain starts functioning again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you know?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only people that know are Beomgyu, Hueningkai, and the assholes at his old company that kept their mouths shut because they didn’t want an scandal —and Soobin had let them because he was a coward, too scared to cause any problems to anyone, so he too swept it under the rug and let it lay there even as every time he saw the clothes in the window display of a store he wanted to scream about how his signature should be there not </span>
  <em>
    <span>hers—</span>
  </em>
  <span> and he’s sure none of them had told Yeonjun, and Yeonjun had never asked. So </span>
  <em>
    <span>how—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh- well,” Yeonjun rubs the back of his neck with the hand that isn’t (still) holding Soobin’s wrist “I kind of looked at your sketchbook? The one you use for your designs and stuff- and well, you had those there and I thought they looked familiar and then I remember Kihyun modeled for those but it wasn't under your company's name so...yeah…" He trails off , still holding Soobin's wrist, lighting up a fire wherever his fingers are touching Soobin's skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Soobin isn’t mad— maybe if it was someone else he would. But it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeonjun</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Yeonjun who just stood up for him and his friends and all Soobin has worked on for the past year, Yeonjun who is always making sure he’s okay, making sure Soobin doesn’t overwork himself or gets lost in his head at the worst times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Yeonjun and Soobin can’t be mad at him, he really can’t. Maybe he’s a little annoyed, annoyed that Yeonjun didn’t just </span>
  <em>
    <span>ask</span>
  </em>
  <span> because if he did Soobin would’ve shown him, would’ve probably told him about Hye Jin if he asked about it too. Soobin thinks he would tell Yeonjun anything if he asked. “It’s okay”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeonjun looks up, blinking surprised, and Soobin smiles at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In an act of bravery that will probably come to bite him in the ass later on, he slides his hand up and interlocks his fingers with Yeonjun’s, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before starting to walk again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go there’s too many people here, it’s suffocating” he says, and Yeonjun nods wordslesly, eyes locked on their interlocked fingers, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth, cheeks red and eyes shining when he looks up at Soobin again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Soobin tries to not overthink what it all means.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank u for reading &lt;3 leave comments and kudos and maybe tell me if anyone would like to actually have a longer fic of this au</p></blockquote></div></div>
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